Crisis Management
- An adverse event occurs.
- The employees involved are reluctant to inform management for fear of reprisals, or management is informed of the crisis but prefers not to go public in hopes that no one will learn of it.
- But the media, both traditional and social, do find out.
- Calls from reporters, bloggers, and influencers go unanswered.
- But regulatory bodies, government departments, unions, customers, suppliers, activists, and others who may be adversely affected do speak out, and their comments may be harsh and damning.
- The resulting coverage is one-sided and paints the organization as the villain, a characterization that is solidified when the media also note that calls to the organization went unanswered.
- Management now decides to issue countering statements.
- These will be reported but so will the counter claims by those attacking you, thus embroiling the organization in a defensive spiral that only reinforces newly implanted negative perceptions of the organization.
- The crisis has now become a disaster.
The purpose of srisis communications is to prevent such disasters from occurring.
Broadly speaking, a crisis is a situation that threatens the wellbeing of an organization - and any situation can turn into a crisis. Consequently, every organization operates in a perpetual state of actual or impending crisis.
There are, of course, degrees of crisis, measured by potential negative impact. The two greatest risks are the harm that the crisis, itself, might inflict upon the organization and the failure to communicate in a timely and forthright manner.
Here's a typical scenario:
There are, of course, degrees of crisis, measured by potential negative impact. The two greatest risks are the harm that the crisis, itself, might inflict upon the organization and the failure to communicate in a timely and forthright manner.
Here's a typical scenario: